Hiking we will go....

Kevin and I have been planning a backpacking trip of a lifetime. The first two weeks in July we are going to Wyoming to climb Gannet Peak, the highest point in WY. We plan on taking 2 weeks off, but the actual hiking trip should only take about 7 days. I CAN"T WAIT!


In preparation for the trip, we have been hiking every weekend around the area- mostly within an 1-1.5 drive away from home. I'm really thankful we took the time to do this. First of all, Kevin and I got to spend some quality time outside together. Secondly, we experienced a lot of interesting parks and sights. I'm really looking forward to going back to these parks to see the impact of the change of seasons. We will have more trail options since we won't be competing with the skiers and I'm looking forward to how the parks change with the seasons.


Here's a list of where we hiked (in order favorite to least favorite):


Nerstrand Big Woods State Park: Nerstrand SP is located south of Northfield. This was a very interesting park with one of the last extensive stands of the "Big Woods." Very cool frozen waterfall in the winter. Not heavily visited.


Wild River State Park: Beautiful scenery along the St. Croix River Valley.


Lebanon Hills Regional Park: This very near my house so we hiked a lot here this winter. It's a great park to hike in the winter because there are 2 hours worth of hiking only trail and we didn't have to worry about getting in the way of the skiers.


Lake Maria State Park: A variety of scenery and trail selections.


Lake Elmo Regional Park: Very pretty park with wide open spaces. We also saw an interesting site - a partially hibernating raccoon - in the middle of our trail.


William O'Brien State Park: This would be a better park to hike in the summer and fall. We were here in the winter and there weren't a lot of hiking only trails.


Fort Snelling State Park: Very cool little loop around Pike Island

Afton State Park: Pretty park but I was expecting more climbs and views of the region.


Carver Park Preserve (Three Rivers Regional Park): This was a pretty park but not a lot of trails in the winter.


Frontenac State Park: This would be a better park to hike in the summer and fall. We were here in the winter and there weren't a lot of hiking only trails.


Willow River State Park (WI): Very pretty park but heavily used.

Happy hiking!